University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach Opens Triathlon Season
5/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
May 8, 2006
"The first race of the season turned out to be a great success," Limkemann said. "This was the first time doing a race this large or this early in the season and I am very pleased with the results. I still need to work on my running and biking if I want to compete with the top pros, but I am looking forward to the challenge."
A triathlon is made up of three aspects--swimming, biking and running. There were roughly 35 professionals and over 4000 total entrants competing in the race. Limkemann finished with a final time of 1:56.38, which is exactly one second faster than the goal he set after the completion of his World Championships race last year.
Finishing with the fastest open water 1500, Limkemann was originally disqualified from the race because the judges couldn't believe he finished as quickly as he did. With a time of 17 minutes flat, Limkemann's swim was 27 seconds faster than Andy Potts, who was first out of the water at the last Olympics.
In the second round, Limkemann just missed going under one hour in the 40K bike with a time of 1:00.03, but made up for it when he finished the 10K run in 36:54, which was under a personal goal of 37 minutes. In doing so, Limkemann sprinted to a personal-best average of less than six minutes per mile for only the second time in his triathlon career.
"My transitions were pretty rough as well, but they will improve as I get more races under my belt, Limkemann added. "Hopefully this is the beginning a great season."
Limkemann turned to triathlon competition after his swimming career at Pitt ended and now races for Trizilla, a local triathlon equipment store. Limkemann won the 1650 freestyle at the Big East Championships in each of his four seasons at Pitt.
Limkemann will race next in the Columbia Triathlon in
